Sewing Tutorial Review: The MADE Beach Towel Robe

So I mentioned a while back on Facebook that I was trying this Beach Towel Robe from MADE, and that I'd let you know how it went. You basically take a large bath or beach towel and turn it into a little robe for swimming or the bath. I made one for my youngest daughter for her birthday, and it turned out sooo cute! My other kids were so enamored with the one I made for her that of course I had to make a few more!

The pattern is $8, and you get a 30-page PDF file with lots of full-color pictures and detailed instructions. Since I've only been sewing since January, this was super helpful for me, and I found the robes pretty easy to make.

The only change I would make to the pattern is that I think the ties are a little long in the large size. Maybe that's just my personal preference, but if you make the biggest size, you may want to keep an eye on that. In my pictures below, I've shortened the ties about 6 inches. Also, she says you can make any of the sizes out of "pretty much any towel," but getting the largest size robe out of your average sized beach towel was a TIGHT SQUEEZE for me (literally just a few inches of leftover fabric), and I had to lay it out differently from the way she shows in her pictures. Look for towels that don't have any decoration or detail on the edges, because you will need your WHOLE towel.

Other than that, I thought the pattern was perfect! Easy to follow, lots of ways to tweak it and personalize it, and sooooo cute!

Here is the one I made first. This is just a plain bath towel from Target (the really soft ones) and I added a hood liner of some cute cupcake fabric.

Here's the second one I made for my older daughter. She picked out the beach towel, and I wasn't crazy about it, but I think it turned out cute!

Now I'm finishing up the one I'm making for my son. It's soul-splitting bright green. So lovely. But I wanted to take a picture of the ties. While I was busy trying to talk my daughter into a cute retro heart patterned towel, my husband managed to talk my son into this bright green towel. Fine, except that it had some turquoise stripes on the ends, and I couldn't afford to waste that much of the towel (I told you it was a close fit!). So I ended up using that part for the ties, and just serged the sides rather than doing the bias tape. I think it'll work out okay.

 So... if you're looking for an easy project, check this one out! The terrycloth is pretty forgiving, and hides mistakes in stitching, so it was a good practice project for me and I learned some new things!